MBNUT1

What kind of fuel mileage are you guys that own C250's getting?

MRC250

I'm getting close to 445-460 average, depends on how I drive but thats highway and city combined. Maybe 26.8 mpg?

alsyli

Actual calculated mileage about 26 MPG (lots of freeway driving, but, when I'm in the city, I'm usually going pretty slowly....).

MDMercedesGuy

Around town, I get about 21.5 MPG, and out on the highway on longer trips I get about 29. I drive it for enjoyment though, not economy so with some hypermiling it probably could do a bit better.

I reset the "lifetime" economy when it hit 1,000 miles and my intent is to not reset it ever again. It said 21.4MPG average when I parked it earlier today.

The feeling when it is spooled up and pulling in 3rd and 4th gear is too addicting for my numbers to ever improve.

MRC250

How many miles do you have on the car? I am always drive in E mode and drive very conservatively and struggle to get 20 mpg and its frustrating.

Ryan.gury89

I do 50 miles a day with a good mix of city/highway. If I baby it I can manage around 26.5 mpg combined but if I have some fun I'll see low 25. On a long highway trip averaging about 74mph I was getting 30.5

If you go with the smaller wheels and keep it around 68-70 I've heard claims of 33mpg.

MDMercedesGuy

3,950 today. It's at 21.2 right now.

It definitely doesn't like stop and go traffic - and it seems that I get better mileage by not dragging out acceleration. Get it up to speed and let it get into 4th+gear where it's not really working and your numbers will come up.

It doesn't seem to like super gentle acceleration - at least by the numbers, that is.

MRC250

I'm in stop and go traffic 90% of the time, Stay in E, and accelerate very gently. I'll try accelerating more moderately and see if the numbers change.

MRC250

Also, I wanted to get your opinion on something MDMguy. The tachometer reading the amount of gas I have fluctuates a very noticeable amount. Like if the needle is at the half tank mark, by the time I drive not even 2-3 miles, it'll drop significantly like a quarter way down under the half tank mark. Is this normal? Do you experience the same thing?

pparker1213

I've kept pretty close track of mileage for the first 10,000 miles on my 2012 C250 rear wheel drive coupe. Calculated mpg (not using the car's estimate) has been high 30's to low 31's. I drive about 30 miles to work, not highway but not city. NH state highway probably 45-55 mph average. I don't drive aggressively. The cars calculated mpg since I bought it is an average 31.4 mpg. Pretty happy with this.

ralawren

I have 9000 miles on my C350 Coupe, driven about equal highway and city. Liftetime average is 25.0 MPG here in Maryland. I guess the extra 100 HP makes sure the engine doesn't work very hard. ; )

2012c350

Speaking of C350 (continued hijack) I've been getting 22ish mpg in my sedan (mostly city). But the past few weeks I've been driving more aggressively and find that I'm getting more than 10% improved gas mileage....not sure what the sweet spot of rpm/mph is but I've been in "E" almost exclusively and driving "E" normally as opposed to babying it has given me the improvement I'm talking about. Interesting.... I'm just shy of 3000 miles.

Domm

I have a C300 and I get around 18 mpg in the city. You C350 owners need to teach me your method of maximizing fuel economy I think it's because my commute consist of hill climbs and I seem to get better fuel economy using "S". Maybe because lightly feathering 1st gear is better than depressing 2nd gear heavily when it comes to hills/stop and go.

MDMercedesGuy

I wouldn't say I have noticed that much fluctuation. It does seem to drop like a missile after 1/4 tank though - after a 0-100 pull getting onto the highway (stupid left lane merges into I-95) the other day it had moved a noticeable amount.

I keep my center display set on the consumption graph most of the time - the miles to empty becomes hypersensitive when the tank is at 1/4 or lower.

Glyn M Ruck

Owners of the 250 Turbo in SA are generally very complimentary about fuel consumption.

will_w204

In my C300, I average 26/27 in mixed driving. My 06 C350 (less weight, bigger motor) averaged the same, but I could get 35 hwy in that car. I've never achieved more than 31.8 in the 300. I'm shocked at c250 the mileage being worse than in my c300. Goes to show, smaller motors have to work harder.

You may remember Top Gear ran a V8 M3 around a test track, along with some 4cyl car a few years back. The M3 actually got better mileage. More motor, less work. A good reason to get the biggest motor available next time.

MRC250

Don't get me wrong, my C250 got 27 mixed when I was at home (I'm and undergraduate) but where I live in Gainesville, everything is really close to each other so my trips are not even 2-3 miles and are all city which I know is bad for fuel mileage. I just never noticed this much fluctuation while driving in city with such short stops.

Its a good thing we don't live on a track then right? I drive my C250 very hard and manage decent mileage. As far as I'm concerned bigger engines = worse gas mileage in the city.

I see what you're saying though, the c250 is like 3428lbs? With the coupe and the 350 weighing more, so the turbo 4 could be using more gas to get the car moving.

MRC250

Also, I saw the top gear thing. It was actually pretty funny, seeing how the prius does more environment damage by cause of the nickel used in its batteries. Just wanted to note that the prius was being pushed to the max while the bmw just had to keep up ( which isn't hard at all :rofl. But if they were both pushed to the max then we would see a difference for sure.

MDMercedesGuy

That was an extreme situation. It proves a good point, but how often are people really wringing the hell out of their car/if they are, they should probably look at their driving style first when trying to determine an issue with fuel consumption.

Most of the time, the smaller engine is going to be more economical assuming it is being driven within normal operating parameters and not getting revved until the pistons shoot through the hood.

Around town in E, it's not that common to get the C250 over 4,000 RPM unless your foot is rather deep in the throttle. Point being - it's hardly working around town to move the car, and at least in the case of the C - the 44 ft/lb torque and 72 horsepower all come higher in the rev range on the V6 than the 4 cylinder.